Aims, objectives, and outcomes

Aims, Objectives, and Outcomes

The aim of the sub-programme (further in the text: program): to provide students an opportunity to obtain master’s degree in education by acquiring educators’ competences and achievements in developing appropriate personal qualities relevant for an educator of the 21st Century, as well as ability to organize and conduct an inquiry-based tertiary teaching-learning and transforming a teaching process into a learning process. The objectives leading to the target competences: 

1. Integrated study courses are offered for the development of understanding of the current paradigm change and educational philosophy, educational theories and innovative practices, research theory and methods and organization of an inquiry-based educational process; planned and worked out students’ activities provide option to obtain the target competences.  
2. Inquiry-based educational process involves the students into activities leading to understanding pedagogical paradigms and their shift, the essence of tertiary and adults’ further educational process in the European Knowledge society, as well as transforming the study process from dominating teaching into a learning process.  
3. Discussions on topical theoretical and practical problems of tertiary and adult education, educational policy and economy, will involve the students into dialogues and help them develop the competence basic for conducting discussions in adult groups and wider community.  
4. Activities of reflecting in action, involvement in research of a formal tertiary and adult further educational process will lead to critical analysis, understanding and interpretation of theoretical and practical innovations of a formal tertiary and non-formal adult learning; it will also lead to the development of the competences relevant for study and course program development in compliance with the needs of the learners; it will lead to the ability of suggesting theoretically underpinned and practically valid means to improve the educational process or educational institution. 
5. Appropriately prepared Moodle, e-materials and instructions provide the students opportunities to choose the activities according to their needs for intensive learning towards the development of their academic, research, and self-evaluation competences.
6. Students’ participation in the evaluation and further improvement of the program will lead to the ability of self-conducting their further life-long learning; reflecting in action will serve for the further development of the academic competence as well as the personal effectiveness.  

The general aim and objectives of the program are obliging for the study courses where they are defined according to the students’ need and specific possibilities of each study course.    Outcomes of the programme The described below general competences as the students’ achievements are formulated for each study course. The target competences are grouped into four clusters and will be specified for each course. The structure of each competence includes:

• deep and strategic 2nd order knowledge base of tertiary education and pedagogy – theories and strategies of tertiary teaching;
• understanding of the tendencies of tertiary education, impact of the market relations and other social processes;
• practical and intellectual skills appropriate for an educator’s position, methods and technologies of tertiary teaching in general and the of the 1st order knowledge  represented by their subject or discipline; 
• abilities which are appropriate for the educator’s position, further life-long learning and self-regulated professional further development;
• motivated learning and attitudes.

  The target competences and their demonstration (the list of competences is used in self-evaluation and evaluation of the students’ success): 1. Academic competences, 2nd order pedagogical knowledge and understanding, practical and intellectual skills of tertiary education, knowledge of creating courses and/or programs, planning and management of the tertiary process and conducting of the adults’ further education, participation in program development:

• hold and demonstrate deep and strategic knowledge and understanding of theories, models and practices of adult education and tertiary educational process, treating master students as adult learners, organisational knowledge of  tertiary education and its continuation at workplaces, demonstrate ability of useing theories to underpin and interpret high quality educational practices and identify current problems; 
• demonstrate understanding and identifying the context knowledge, field of practices and techniques that make the background of further development of critical thinking, problem solving, inquiry, creativity, and innovations, as well as in-formal and un-formal self-conducted learning;
•  use pedagogical techniques to initiate and support students’ inquiry learning, development of their critical thinking and abilities for innovative practices, as well as performance-related traits (adaptability, persistence, resilience); 
•  make targeted choice or create an appropriate curricula, models or courses of tertiary teaching-learning, organization and conducting of a tertiary process and students’ self-regulated learning;
•  hold deep and strategic knowledge and understanding of the particular science (1st order knowledge) transferred into the pedagogicaly appropriate content of tertiary studies;
•  demonstrate self-evaluation and skills of evaluation, as well as skills of prioritizing and conducting the students self- and peer evaluation.

2. Research skills and techniques, the context knowledge and management of investigations, design of a research project in a multicultural environment; project management and participation in project teams:

• hold an ability to recognize and validate topical for education problems, formulate and test hypothesis or the research questions, demonstrate understanding of the local and/or international context of investigation;  
• formulate theoretical concepts/underpinning and demonstrate abilities of conducting and analysing the inquiry process, hold skills appropriate for reflecting on the professional activities, collecting and processing data,  and formulation of reliable suggestions towards improving of tertiary process; 
• demonstrate understanding of relevant for the field of education research methodologies and techniques, as well as their application within the particular fields of investigation and suggest theory- and practice-based improvements of tertiary education;
• hold appropriate knowledge, skills and responsibility for the usage of the research findings, demonstrate understanding of the researcher’s ethical issues (confidentiality, data protection, ownership, copyright etc.);
• demonstrate skills of oral and written presentation (master’s paper, scientific article, conference report etc.);
• hold knowledge and skills of creating and conducting an inquiry-based tertiary teaching-learning.

3. Communication, cooperation, planning, participation, organization and networking, mentoring and supervision:

• demonstrate ability to initiate and conduct discussions on the topical for education problems, construct coherent and clear arguments to support the innovative ideas at seminars, hands-on sessions, discussions, examinations;
• hold knowledge and demonstrate skills of planning a tertiary process,   maintaining the students’ group and team activities, as well as students’ personal growth;
• cooperate with the colleagues in research projects and everyday activities, contribute to promoting the peer and colleagues’ understanding of the research findings and innovations in education;
• effectively support learning by demonstrating, suggesting, discussing, mentoring, supervising etc. the tertiary students’ activities, maintain networking, cooperation, group activities, support synergy and working relations among the students;
• distinguish between formal and informal communication, share feedback and respond reciprocally to the others.

4. Personal effectiveness and impact, career management and life-long learning:

• use knowledge and skills to further develop professional academic and research qualities, reflect on the academic and research activities to make current improvements, as well as the personal growth and prioritise further activities of life-long learning;
• appreciate the need for and show commitment to research-based innovative practices;
• demonstrate ability and use personal effectiveness to redirect the tertiary educational process from normative instructing to the students’ self-regulated learning;
•  take ownership and manage the development of the personal career by setting realistic goals and choice of appropriate tools;
• demonstrate moral-related traits and foster their development in the tertiary students (integrity, justice, empathy, ethics);
• reflect and present competences and personal effectiveness in the CV or other applications as interviews etc.

  The listed here competences are  evaluated in ten score system by: ‘outstanding’ (10) which reflects that the student’s success exceeds the master’s competence level (approaches a doctoral level); ‘excellent’ (9); ‘very good’  (8);  ‘ good’ (7);  ‘almost good’ (6);  ‘satisfactory’ (5); ‘almost satisfactory’ (4);  ‘ not satisfactory’ (3-1).  To manifest the students' success in acquiring the programm they will be awarded a diploma "Master of Educational Sciences in Pedagogy" and Supplement which reflects the covered courses and grades.